NORTHAMPTON – The Northampton Housing Authority’s board of commissioners is moving forward with a judicial appeal of a recent Civil Service Commission ruling ordering the reinstatement of a top employee who the commission determined was wrongfully fired last year.
In a 3-0 vote in executive session Monday that included labor attorney James M. Pender of Boston, the board decided to appeal the case of Michael T. Owens in Suffolk Superior Court.
Newly appointed commissioner Gerald Budgar did not vote on the matter, according to the board. He could not be reached for comment early Wednesday.
“I think we have an extremely strong appeal,” Jeffrey Jones, the board’s chairman, said Wednesday. “We would not appeal if we didn’t think we have a strong case.”
Jones declined to elaborate on the board’s reasons for bringing the case to court.
“I think we have multiple reasons that right now, I’m not at liberty to discuss,” he said.
Owens is the housing authority’s former director of administration and finance and earned $71,000 annually. He and four other longtime employees were let go as part of a reorganization led by executive director Cara Clifford just one month after she was hired. Clifford replaced Jonathan Hite, who retired after 23 years in the post.
In an April 27 decision, the Civil Service Commission ordered that Owens be reinstated with full back pay and benefits. The commission determined that Clifford and the board violated Owens’ employment rights and for failing to meet their responsibilities under the law.
The ruling stated that the employment actions were “more akin to a purge of certain long-time employees,” and that the firing of Owens was “nothing more than a bad faith effort to discharge a faithful employee …”
Owens joined the housing authority in 200. He could not immediately be reached for comment and it is unclear whether he plans to return to his old job.
A related case involving David Adamson, the housing authority’s former maintenance supervisor, remains under review by the Civil Service Commission. He worked at the housing authority for 32 years before being let go during last year’s reorganization.
Owens and Adamson had both filed wrongful termination appeals with the commission.
Staff Writer Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.